Students played a pivotal role in the Telangana Movement through protests, hunger strikes, rallies, and agitations. Despite facing police brutality, they remained resolute in their demand for a separate Telangana state.
One of the significant student-led incidents was the Assembly Muttadi on February 20, 2010, when Osmania University students marched toward the Assembly, breaking police barricades and chanting pro-Telangana slogans. On the same day, Siripuram Yadaiah, a 21-year-old student from Nagaram village, tragically self-immolated near NCC Gate after police blocked the student march. His suicide note expressed his sacrifice for Telangana’s formation and the hope for employment opportunities for youth.
Several key student agitations followed. On May 28, 2010, students from Osmania and Kakatiya Universities protested Jagan Mohan Reddy’s tour at Mahabubabad Railway Station. The Praja Chaitanya Yatra, launched on June 2, 2010, saw Telangana Students JAC conducting awareness campaigns across districts, urging people to re-elect resigned MLAs. To organize the movement more effectively, OU Students JAC appointed district coordinators, including Lokesh Yadav and Veera Babu in Khammam, Naligan Sharath and Tumu Naveen Yadav in Warangal, and several others across Telangana.
Mass protests continued in 2010 and 2011. On October 26, 2010, OU JAC opposed the “14-F” free zone issue and organized a secretariat siege. On November 24, 2010, 15 student leaders, including Balka Suman, were arrested and sent to Charlapally Central Prison, where they launched an indefinite hunger strike. The following year, on February 21, 2011, students attempted to march to the Assembly but were met with police lathi charges and tear gas. On February 25, 2011, Osmania University law students staged a dharna at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, demanding a Telangana Bill in Parliament.
Further agitations occurred in 2011 and 2012, including protests against the “14-F” issue on August 3, 2011, and violent student agitations on November 18, 2011, when Osmania University students pelted stones at buses in protest of police actions. Symbolic actions also took place, such as the Telangana Vidyarthi Garjana at Osmania University on February 15, 2012, attended by thousands, and the hoisting of a black flag on the Arts College building on September 17, 2012, by Ashanna and Sampath Nayak.
The movement continued with major demonstrations in 2013, including the seizure of Gandhi Bhavan on March 19, 2013, where students occupied the Congress Party’s state office, and protests against Parakala Prabhakar’s book “101 Abaddalu” (101 Lies) on April 17, 2013, disrupting its launch at Basheerbagh Press Club.
Throughout the Telangana Movement, students remained a driving force, organizing large-scale protests and influencing public discourse, ultimately contributing to the formation of the separate state of Telangana in 2014.